Fun is Fun and Done is Done
by andyjay18
Summary: How will Tsukasa cope with the loss of her sister? TsukasaxKonata
1. Chapter 1

"_Deliver me from reasons why_

_We said goodbye; I'd rather fly._"

-The Doors, "The Crystal Ship"

"Tsukasa-chan? A-are you all right?" came the voice of her sister Inori.

Her surroundings gradually shifted from undefined blurs into solid shapes as she awoke. Mostly white. Firm yet soft. She was in a bed, but the sheets were stiff and starched, unlike her stuffed comforter at home. Noticing the metal bars at the sides of the bed, Tsukasa now realized she was in a hospital bed. She also noticed her sister's blotchy, red-rimmed eyes and moist cheeks.

"O-onee-chan?" Tsukasa murmured, trying to sit up. A wave of dizziness washed over her. "What happened?" Matsuri was standing behind Inori, and their parents were on chairs in the corner of the small room. All of them looked like they had been crying recently. "W-where's Kagami-onee-chan?" But as her senses returned and her brain began to reboot, things started to come back.

It had happened much too fast. Such things usually do.

The four girls were heading home from school, chatting about the upcoming "May Sickness" and plans for Golden Week. Konata of course was going on about her anticipation for Rumiko Takahashi's brand-new manga series and the anime version of _Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan_. As they passed down a crosswalk, a grouchy-sounding salaryman in a gray suit muttered into his cell phone about dire predictions for the Japanese economy at the end of the fiscal year. Further down the block a bunny-girl barker announced bargains on Borneo bananas, beef bullion, and Bintang beer through a bullhorn. Some small birds, pecking up crumbs outside a nearby cafe, uttered a call that sounded like "poo-tee-weet".

Tsukasa's memory couldn't help but add in those other insignificant details as if they had been footnotes, or part of the props and extras in a play or movie. Because the rest of the day, and some time afterward, would certainly feel like a movie.

The walking man symbol had been invitingly flashing for them, and the cars and other vehicles had obediently stopped to let the pedestrians cross. Tsukasa would never be completely sure why it had been her, since she had never been quite as sharp upstairs as her sister and two best friends, but on this day a lucky star must have shone on her. A very lucky one. Out of the corner of her eye appeared a large tanker truck which seemed to be going much too fast. Its horn blared.

"Oh my God! RUUUUUNNNNN!!!" she shrieked. Miyuki, at the front, broke into a run for the sidewalk, followed by Konata. The small athletic girl grabbed the hand of Tsukasa, right behind her. Tsukasa then reached behind her for Kagami. But she only felt Kagami's fingers in her palm for a split second before they disappeared. As Konata pulled her to the curb, Tsukasa looked behind her to see her sister lying sprawled on the pavement, groaning in pain. Her schoolbag and one of her shoes lay behind her in the middle of the street. "Nee-chan!" she cried, holding out her hand. "C'mon!"

"You get to the curb f…" began Kagami, struggling to her feet. But before she could finish the sentence, the blast of the truck's horn filled the world and made the air vibrate like the skin of a drum, as the truck sped just within two meters of Tsukasa and Konata.

Right where Kagami had been.

The truck went into a mad swerve as it entered the center of the adjacent street intersection, then jackknifed and toppled over with a roar like thunder. After skidding along for a few feet it lay there like a dying animal.

Tsukasa dropped her schoolbag at her feet and stood there. She could hear a piercing scream come from the direction of the bunny-girl, Konata shouting "KAGAMIIIIINNNNNN!!!!" at a much higher volume than she knew she was capable of, Miyuki starting to break into uncontrolled sobs, and a warren of voices gasping things like, "Oh my God!" "That girl got hit!" "Someone call the cops!" "That poor little thing… "Oh God, oh God, she never could've survived that…" "I hope they lynch that fucker!" Yet the cacophony seemed as if it were a recording. Yes, that must have been it.

And then she noticed Kagami's shoe still lying in the middle of the street, and her schoolbag lying where she had been.

Where she had been.

A deep, horrible dent was pressed down its middle and had nearly cut it in two. Some of her schoolbooks and papers protruded out like the contents of a bitten Choco Cornet.

All of a sudden the world's colors seemed too bright, and the world seemed to sway around her, while the noisy din seemed to be coming from underwater.

Tsukasa Hiiragi barely notice the hot, sour sensation in her throat and mouth as she vomited, and then the world faded to black around her.

It had all come back to her now.

"Tsukasa-nee-chan," Inori sniffed, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. "I-I don't know how to tell you this but…but…" She reached out and fully embraced her little sister, who was now sitting fully upright. "Kagami is…dead. That asshole truck driver got her."

Tsukasa felt as if a bomb had gone off in her head. The tears immediately started pooling in her eyes. "Nee-chan," she breathed. "Nee-chan…"

"Oh, Tsuka-chan!" sobbed Matsuri, starting to break down again as she too walked toward Tsukasa's bed, arms outstretched.

"Careful now," said a young nurse who had come by to check on things. "She is recovering from shock; that's why she's under observation now." Matsuri simply slapped her.

"Have _you_ lost a family member today?" she exploded. "The only reason _I'm_ not in here for shock treatment right now is because I was at school at the time! You don't know what this is like…" Her voice trailed off as she joined Inori in weeping.

"Matsuri-chan, Matsuri-chan, please," exclaimed Miki, their mother, jumping up and restraining her second-eldest daughter. "Nurses are trained for…these kinds of…situations…" She then wrapped her arms around her daughter and began crying again.

Seeing his family needed him again, Tadao, the father, came up and embraced his wife and second-eldest daughter. His priestly upbringing had given him a calm, placid Japanese stoicism which at first glance one might mistake for coldness or aloofness. But he felt that in such a trying time, such a demeanor would help soothe his stricken family. Inside he was as devastated as the rest. Brushing away his own tears, he turned to the nurse. "W-we're sorry about all this."

The nurse rubbed the red handprint on her cheek and gave a nervous smile. She fortunately hadn't lost any immediate family members, but she could indeed empathize with this family. She was new to the job, but had already had to stand by three times as her superiors had pronounced patients dead. Working in a hospital, she was already no stranger to grieving relatives. Just another day in the office. "It's okay, sir," she answered. "Your wife was right about us being…trained. I'll go tell the other staff to leave you all alone for a while."

Tsukasa hadn't had the horror of seeing her sister after the accident, but that single shoe and her crushed schoolbag…she just couldn't push them out of her mind, no matter how she tried. "Nee-chan," she said into the crook of Inori's neck, tears soaking into the fabric of her sister's sweater. "Nee-chan…Nee-chan…KAGAMI-NEE-CHAAAAAANNN!!!" she shrieked as she started to cry in harsh sobs.


	2. Chapter 2

Adam Savage: Please. This is a work of fanfiction that belongs to…whoever actually created these characters.

Jamie Heineman: It wasn't the author of this story! So stop trying to sue us!

_If only I'd held onto Onee-chan's hand tighter… Were my hands sweaty or something at the time? I can't remember…_

It turned out the truck involved had a broken hose in its air brakes, which was why it couldn't stop. Matsuri tried to urge her father to sue the trucking company for negligent maintenance, but Tadao declined. All the money in the world wouldn't bring back, say, John F. Kennedy, let alone Kagami. And the media had already exploited their grief enough, barraging the family with questions and snapping flashbulbs almost as soon as they had arrived at the hospital to see Tsukasa. At the very least some of the media exposure would focus on the company and shake things up with them.

In any event, the driver was hospitalized for a broken leg in the crash. After trying to jump out of his hospital window, he was sedated and put on suicide watch.

Tsukasa spent the night at the hospital (the same one as the driver) with her family and was released the next morning, then given the day off from school the next day. Kagami's…accident had occurred on the Thursday afternoon before Golden Week, so Tsukasa was essentially given a head start on the holidays. Not that it was much cause for celebration. Would Golden Week now carry this terrible association for Tsukasa for the rest of her life?

"Oh, I'm so glad you're here," Inori said that afternoon, when Konata and Miyuki had arrived at the Hiiragis' front door to give Tsukasa her homework for the break. "Tsukasa really could use someone else right now, instead of just someone else here to drop off flowers, greeting cards, or food; trying to make us think we won something instead of lost…" Her face crumpled as she tried to keep herself from crying again.

"Well, we brought some just the same," Miyuki replied, wiping her eyes as she handed Inori a bouquet in plastic. "My mom had thought about baking a cake, but I, umm, didn't think you'd be very…hungry after all this, so I talked her out of it."

"Thank you very much for your kindness," Inori answered, laying the flowers in a growing pile by the family shrine…where a picture of Kagami was now mounted, framed by burning incense. The sight made Miyuki start weeping softly once again. _She's really gone_, she thought. _In the back of my mind I thought this was all just some horrible dream, but now… _

"And, well, don't tell anyone, Takara-san, but you were right about us not having much appetite." Inori gave a sarcastic giggle and tossed her hands. "And yet, all around the world, people seem to think, 'Hey, someone just died! You know what their loved ones must want? Cakes, casseroles, and sushi!'" She couldn't keep the tears back anymore. "I-I'm sorry. This is just…I don't know what to do. Does anyone ever really know what to do in this kind of situation? This is just such a goddamn _mess!_"

"Here, I made a scrapbook of photos of all of us," Konata said, handing Inori a thick folder.

"Wow!" Inori said, leafing through it. "It's beautiful! It looks like it's in chronological order and everything! And you even included captions for the photos! And your glitter designs! How long did this take you?"

"Oh, I just threw it together last night."

"You're kidding!" gasped Inori.

"Hey, I burn the midnight oil just about every night on video games," Konata replied, a small, sly smile on her face. "I just figured this was a bit more important."

Inori clasped Konata in a sudden hug. "You are such a wonderful friend, Izumi-chan. Kagami was so lucky to have known you."

"It's nothing, really," Konata said. "Now could you…mmph!...please let go of me so we can give Tsukasa her homework and this card we bought her?"

"Sure, sure," Inori replied. "Umm, the doctors…prescribed her with Valium, so she may a little…out of it. Can't say I blame her though…"

"Tsukasa-chan?" called Konata as she and Miyuki entered Tsukasa's darkened room. "Are you awake?"

"Nnnnghh," the short-haired girl groaned. While sedatives had taken some of the edge off, the remnants of the trauma still pulsed through her body like electricity, often combining with the agony of grief to jolt her mind even when she had managed to calm down somewhat. She had spent much of her time since waking up in the hospital hovering in a dizzy, foggy mental fever, with barely any energy but still unable to fully relax. As a result she had spent the whole day in bed staring at the ceiling (or rather a point beyond it), only briefly getting up to nibble on some toast and go to the bathroom.

"Onee-chan, is that you?" she murmured.

"Umm, it's us, Konata and Miyuki," answered Konata. "We brought your homework…and a card. Mind if we come in?"

"Oh…go ahead," said Tsukasa, her voice barely rising above a whisper. She unsteadily rose up in her bed. Even in the dim light, the other two girls noticed her skin was several shades paler. Her big violet eyes appeared extremely tired and extremely frightened at the same time, and she appeared to be staring past her friends although she was looking towards them. _Is that what war veterans call the "thousand-yard stare"?_ wondered the encyclopedic Miyuki. But the meganekko's eyes flooded with tears again when she noticed what Tsukasa was tightly clutching.

It was a Bonta-kun plushie, which she remembered seeing in Kagami's room.

"Tsuka-chan!" she sobbed, rushing toward her and hugging her. _We haven't seen her since after the accident, when she fainted and the ambulance took her away._ "Oh, I'm sorry, but I just don't know to handle this sort of situation. Your family's probably been hearing this a lot today, but really, if you guys need anything, anything at all…"

"I know," Tsukasa answered in a flat tone. "Thank you." Except for her tormented eyes, Konata thought Tsukasa at that moment seemed the spitting image of Yuki Nagato (albeit with a cute hair bow instead of glasses), but of course she kept that to herself.

"Well," Konata added. "Here's the card we got you."

"Thanks," Tsukasa replied. The caption read, "Even in your darkest hour, when you feel you're on your own/Just remember this, my friend; you'll never walk alone."

"Never walk alone," Tsukasa echoed. "Never walk alone…I should've held Onee-chan's hand tighter…I should've…" Her face pinched up as she began to cry again. "Oh _why_? Kona-chan…Yuki-chan…why did this have to _happen_? Why didn't I hold on to Onee-chan's hand tighter? Why didn't I come back to try to save her? I feel like such a damn useless idiot…"

"Hey, I saw how fast that truck was coming," Konata answered. "If you'd have gone back for Kagamin, you might not have made it back either." She sat down on Tsukasa's bed and wrapped her arm around the upset girl's neck. "And I certainly wouldn't have wanted to lose the both of you."

Tsukasa's face turned somewhat annoyed. "So are you saying it's fine if one of us is gone, just as long there's another left?"

_Huh, that's one of the first times I've seen her like that_, thought Konata. "Oh, no, no, no! Heh, I was just trying to say that, well, we're both glad you weren't hurt, Tsuka-chan. And I'll bet Kagamin is too. She probably also wouldn't want you blaming yourself for the accident either."

"She's right, Tsukasa-chan," added Miyuki. "There's only so much you can do sometimes. Right now you should just concentrate on your memories of the good times with Kagami-chan."

"Like my mom once said," continued Konata. "Fun is fun and done is done."

A light came on in Tsukasa's head. Despite (or likely because of) the chaotic events of the past 24 hours, she had been so mired in her own grief that she had forgotten about Konata's late mother, even if Konata had been too young to remember her. "Y-your mom said that?"

"Yup. My dad says those were her last words."

"What did that saying mean?" asked Miyuki. "It sounds like a Zen proverb, but I don't know of any like that."

"I'm not exactly sure myself," said Konata. "But I think it might mean something like what Miyuki said; remember the good things and just try to move on."

"B-but it's just so _hard_," Tsukasa sobbed. "I'm not sure about all that mystical stuff they say about twins, but it feels like part of me is gone too. I know I've always been kind of a sensitive crybaby, but aren't you upset too, Kona-chan?"

"Yeah," answered Konata. "I just don't cry that easily. You remember I didn't cry at the end of _Code Geass_, right? Or when Michel died on _Macross Frontier_? The world is already a pretty depressing place at times, so you gotta keep your chin up or you'll end up insane or suicidal."

"Y-yeah…" Tsukasa answered, a weak smile on her face. "Kona-chan?"

"Huh?"

"Do you think about your mom much?"

"Occasionally," the small girl answered after a brief pause. "Sometimes, frankly, I think of how similar she was to me and get a little worried that…I could end up like her. Same with Yutaka, though I'm obviously a bit more concerned about her. But hey, right now I'm fine, and I've got you two, so I have nothing to worry about! Except for Kuroi-sensei's test after we get back. But in the long run, I have nothing major to worry about so…I don't worry." She looked slightly upward wistfully. "And yeah, I also wonder about how my life would've turned out if she were still around, and occasionally my dad and I talk about her, but, well, since I was only a baby when she died…I don't have any memories, and I can't do anything about that. Fun is fun and done is done." She briefly wiped her eye. "Welp, I'd like to stick around some more, but I gotta get home in time for my shows."

"I guess I should be leaving too," Miyuki said. "I promised my mom I'd help with dinner."

But before they could leave her bedside, Tsukasa wrapped her arms around both her friends. "Thank you," she said, tears running freely. "You were just what I needed today."

Miyuki blinked back her own tears. "We'll come back and see you again over Golden Week if you like."

"Mmmph!" gasped Konata, being smothered by a Hiiragi for the second time that afternoon. "Okay, Tsuka-chan, you don't have to hug so tight!" _I guess Kagamin missed out on that gene. But she was Tsukasa's twin... Maybe she forgot about it._

"Sojiro-chan…" said a small, wispy voice in the corner of the room, which no one heard. "You remembered my words after all this time. What a wonderful man you are. Thank you." The small, blue-haired woman who could have passed for Konata's twin sister smiled.

"I never knew she could be so…philosophical," added Kagami, who was standing next to Konata's late mother Kanata Izumi. "At least not about anime or manga. Well, she did toss in a few references, but they didn't completely throw the conversation off. But yeah, she can still pick you up when you're feeling down. I hope she can do the same for Nee-chan."

"I think she can," answered Kanata. "She's gotten that part of my Sojiro. Anyway, let's get back to that paperwork. I think you were on page 16."

Kagami rolled her eyes. It figured that even heaven would be overrun with bureaucracy and forms.

_This isn't the last chapter, but I'm writing this from scratch and I usually play these things by ear, so I'm not sure how long the rest will take. Even so, to those of you about to review, I salute you._


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: This takes place about three days later._

"_Though I know I'll never lose affection_

_For people and things that went before_

_I know I'll often stop and think about them_

_In my life, I love you more."_

-The Beatles, "In My Life"

"Oh Hiiragi-san," blurted Yukari Takara, clasping Inori tightly and sobbing into her right shoulder. "It's all so horrible. A-at least she didn't suffer."

Inori Hiiragi started weeping herself, almost as much moved by the sight of the normally cheerful woman bawling as by her memories of her dead sister and the fact that her funeral would be held that afternoon, followed by her cremation the next day. "Yes, I think we're all somewhat glad for that, on some level anyway," she answered. "But, heh, I guess in the end—the very end—that's all we can really hope for, if you think about it. Here's the guestbook. You don't have to sign it, but it's still here. And please leave your donation money on the living room table."

"Umm, thank you," answered Yukari, promptly signing the book. "And really, are you sure you wouldn't like me to bake you a cake? Once, when Miyuki was little, we were planning to go to Tokyo Disneyland for her birthday, but it was closed then. Poor Yuki-chan was _so_ upset, but I baked her a lovely strawberry cake with pineapple slices afterwards, and she cheered right up! Now of course this is much, _much_ worse, but still…"

"Thank you for your generosity," answered Matsuri, stepping in. "But again, we just aren't in the mood for sweets right now."

"Well, okay," answered Yukari. "But really, it's my pleasure."

"Hey!" interrupted Konata's cousin Yui, as she barged into the scene; her glasses partially drooping down her nose. She loosely clutched a half-full bottle of scotch. "S-so tell me, Hiiragi-chan…what's the _point_ of _guestbooks_ for funerals? I mean…ya gotta have respect for the dead an' all but still…do ya…do ya really wanna keep somethin' like that right next to all the stuff you _wanna_ remember, like wedding and baby pictures?"

"Yeah, I _know_," replied Matsuri, who was a bit drunk herself, though just on beer. "Wh-what're you going to title it? _Baby's First Funeral_? And well, since we do run this shrine, we have to keep track of financial donations and everything but still, checking people at the door? What is this…a four-star restaurant?"

"Matsuri-chan!" snapped Inori indignantly.

"Hey," said Konata, who had followed her cousin over to the door. "Like they say, laughter is the best medicine, and comedy is just tragedy plus time. You don't usually think about these kinds of things until…this happens, so why not discuss them now? These things _are_ weird if you think about them."

"But Kona-chan," said Miyuki, who had come to investigate the small commotion at the door. "This is the funeral now. Couldn't that sort of discussion wait a little while longer?"

"Hey," Konata answered sotto voce, "Yui-nee-san brought it up, not me. Heh, after she's had a few, she can handle a conversation the way she handles a car." She turned toward Inori. "Umm, but I'm sorry if I offended you too, Inorin."

Inori smiled wanly. "Thanks, Izumi-chan. I kinda understand what they were trying to say now that you explained things a bit. The past few days we've all been trying to get back on our feet as much as possible, but…it really is hard. I don't know how you do it; you seem so calm and collected yet sincere in what you're doing for us at the same time."

Konata batted an eyebrow. "Mmm, it's just who I am, I guess. Anyway…I see you and your sister are already in your miko robes. For the ceremony, right?"

"Yup. I guess you know about Tsukasa, right? She's doing a little better now, but she still can't bring herself to participate in the funeral ceremony with us. Dad and Mom aren't forcing her. Hey, what the…?"

By the doorway, a hugging Yui and Matsuri had collapsed to the floor in a drunken tangle; scotch soaking into the carpet. Matsuri was now weeping. "And the things they say…they're supposed to make you feel better but somehow they just _compound_ things; rub salt in the wound…it's…it's like if you say your name over and over again; it kinda loses it's meaning, you know? Becomes just meaningless sounds." She grabbed their shared scotch bottle and downed what was left of it. "I must've heard 'At least she didn't suffer' at least 15 times today, 'the gods work in mysterious ways' at least 10, and 'She's in a better place now' about 20 times."

"A-all right, hold on there, hon," slurred Yui. "I may be 10 sheets to the wind myself but I'm still married."

"It…it just ain't right," Matsuri continued, embracing Yui tightly and resting her chin on Yui's right shoulder. "I just need someone to hold right now."

Both Miyuki and her mother were beet-red. "Umm, Mom, maybe you'd like to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Hiiragi. They're in the kitchen." Yukari's head swiveled around to watch the scene on the floor as her daughter led her away. There was a small, almost inaudible snapping noise, followed by Konata's father slipping out along the living room wall toward the kitchen door in a clandestine manner.

_Kimura-sensei will love that photo_, he thought.

"Uhh, mind if I go upstairs and talk to Tsukasa-chan?" asked Konata.

"Go right ahead," answered Inori, coming to Yui's aid.

Tsukasa was sitting propped up in bed reading one of her sister's light novels, the Bonta-kun plushie still by her side. "Come in," she answered to Konata's knock at her door.

"Hey there," Konata said as she slipped in. "It's gotten…kinda interesting downstairs. Sure you don't want to come join us?"

"I'm sorry, but like I said earlier; I just…can't."

"There is no 'can'; only 'do' and 'do not'," Konata answered in a very convincing Yoda voice. "Besides, I thought you were feeling better now."

"I am, a bit," replied Tsukasa. "But it's like…some parts of the day I'm feeling all right, and I can even almost think of Onee-chan without feeling all depressed, and then some other times I start thinking of her constantly and I get so depressed I can barely move." Tears glistened in her eyes again. "And the thought of…performing Onee-chan's…funeral ceremony…"

Konata sat again on Tsukasa's bed and wrapped an arm around her neck. "Hey, remember what I told you about just trying to remember the good stuff. And, well, this is all about commemorating Kagamin's memory."

"I know," Tsukasa answered. "It's just…even though I've grown up in this shrine, the thought of death and the afterlife still didn't seem entirely…real. I never entirely believed it could happen to someone so close to me until now."

"Well," said Konata. "That's why my family isn't really religious. We don't officially declare ourselves atheists or agnostics or anything, but we don't really talk about God or anything like that much. My dad didn't hold a religious ceremony after my mom died, and this shrine was actually the first I've ever been to in my life. No offense, since you're a miko, but…I kinda feel like religion just makes death seem unreal and unnatural, like something that only happens in the movies or anime, especially the stuff about the afterlife and all the ceremonies and whatnot. And of course, well, we all gotta go someday."

"Yeah, I understand," replied Tsukasa. "I've wondered about that stuff a lot, including the whole thing about why bad things happen to good people. So did Onee-chan, by the way. But…do you have any supernatural beliefs at all? Do you think this is all there is, or is there something more?"

"Well, nothing entirely concrete," Konata answered. "But there have been some times… Like once, my dad and I were sitting in our living room talking about my mom; what she was like, how she and my dad married young, and what she might've thought of us today. During that conversation, I had this feeling that…someone was watching us. You ever get that feeling?"

Tsukasa nodded.

"And then, just for good times' sake, my dad took a picture of him and me, but when it came out…" Her eyes widened for emphasis. "There was this kinda brown shadow off to side of the picture."

Tsukasa drew back slightly. "R-really?"

"Yep. At first we were both freaking out about how we and the house were cursed or something, and we said we'd burn the photo. But the next day I found the photo on the bookshelf, not exactly in prominent view, but still not destroyed. And somehow now I wonder. I'm, umm, kinda certain that our house isn't cursed now, and it could've just been a smudge on the lens or something, but I still just wonder…"

"Whether your mom was trying to reach out to you?"

"Hmm, maybe. Wouldn't you like to keep an eye on your friends and family after you're gone…assuming it's all possible of course?"

"Yeah, I would," Tsukasa said. She glanced up toward the ceiling. "Do you think Onee-sama might keep watch over us?"

A grin widened on Konata's face. "Sure! If it's all true and it wasn't just my imagination going nuts, I wouldn't be surprised if you see Kagamin at the funeral or maybe when we graduate next year, and maybe Yoda and Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker will be there at her side; only it better be the one played by Sebastian Shaw and not that emo dork Hayden Christensen."

Tsukasa giggled. "You always know just what to say and how to pick people up, Kona-chan. No wonder Onee-chan,umm, liked you…"

The corners of Konata's mouth were nearly reaching her ears. "Oh, did she?" she asked in a sly tone.

"Yeah, just because of your cheeriness, your wit, your enthusiasm…your…cuteness… You just have a way of making everyone around you feel good. And I…I kinda felt the same way. Onee-chan talked about it a lot, and I was always a bit jeal…waahhh!"

Konata had pulled Tsukasa in to her Haruhi-style, planted a quick kiss on her right cheek, then gave the short-haired girl a quick tug on her right ear with her lips. "I knew one of you would confess to me sooner or later…or maybe Wiki-chan."

"B-but I thought you preferred Onee-chan," Tsukasa gasped, the pink expanding on her cheeks. "You were always flirting with her."

"She was a tsundere," answered Konata. "It's always fun to push tsunderes' buttons like that. With imotos like you though, you have to be gentler. Besides, when did I say I liked one of you more? You were both twins; you had the same DNA, so despite all your differences, you were still practically the same girl."

"Well yeah," replied Tsukasa. "We were both left-handed of course, we both had our insecurities, and we both liked candy."

"That's what made you both so sweet," answered Konata in a saccharine tone, nuzzling against Tsukasa's neck. "You're a Hershey Kiss,"—she pecked Tsukasa again, this time just at the corner of her mouth—"and Kagamin was a sour ball; bitter on the outside, sweetness on the inside."

"Thanks," Tsukasa laughed. "But, umm, how did you know Onee-chan and me…liked girls as well as guys?"

"Because, since we first met, neither of you would leave me alone! Same with Wiki-chan." She winked in a way that made Tsukasa's heart flutter. "You know how in _Marimite_ you got a whole bunch of lesbos just drifting together at school and eventually they all figure out they're all in love with each other? You'd normally think, what're the odds of that happening in real life, and at a _Catholic_ school no less, but, well, sometimes life imitates art." She sighed. "Would've been nice to go out with you and Kagamin and call it an actual date…but the times we've had have still been great, eh?"

"Well, like you told me, fun is fun and done is done."

Konata then slipped across Tsukasa's bed and stared right into her pretty violet eyes, her feline smile beaming. "So…would you like to go on a date sometime?"

"Maybe in a little while, but not right away," Tsukasa said. "It just seems so soon."

"Aww, c'mon Tsuka-chan! Nothing like a little romance to turn that frown upside down!"

"Yeah, but I just feel bad that Onee-chan couldn't share it with us."

"Like I said," Konata continued, "remember the times we had. And…what if what I was saying earlier is true? Maybe she'll be there too…watching us…spying on us. That dirty pervert. She wouldn't want you feeling down forever."

"Okay then," Tsukasa said, beaming. "Next Friday then? For you…and Onee-chan. Well, I suppose I should get up and put on my robes."

"Great; I'll watch," said Konata.

Tsukasa playfully bopped Konata with a pillow. "Shut up," she laughed.

As she got up and headed for her closet, she didn't tell Konata about the slight prickling sensation on the back of her neck, or the small chuckling noise she thought she heard.

_There's still an epilogue coming up, but first I wanted to talk about this story for a bit. I actually got the idea for it from Stephen King's _Pet Sematary_, of all things. If you've read it, then you might know what I'm talking about. Some of the dialog borrows a lot from a funeral scene in that story. The title itself comes from another King story, "Riding the Bullet" from the _Everything's Eventual_ collection. We all know about King's penchant for insane horror, but he can also be very poignant and tender as well, and I was trying to channel that vibe for this piece. Also, mainly since I'm a King fan (as if you hadn't guessed), I've made a decision to insert King references in my stories wherever possible._

_And yes, I know that Yoda's original quote was "There is no _try_…" and of course Konata would've known that, but she would also know how to paraphrase to her advantage._ ;)


	4. Chapter 4

"_When you walk on by_

_Will you call my name?"_

-Simple Minds, "Don't You Forget About Me"

It was only the first week of May, but already summer heat was starting to gather in the small suburb of Washimiya, Saitama Prefecture. Haze tinted the sky into a milky grayish-blue as two girls walked through the cemetery. Once past the gates and away from the busy streets, the only sounds were of chirping birds, wind through the tree branches, and the girls' shoes crunching over the dirt paths.

"So this is Kagamin's grave? Wasn't she cremated?" asked Konata, as they paused in front of a simple granite monument. Tsukasa bent down to water the flowers planted in front of it.

"Yes, but we still wanted a stone for our family plot," said Tsukasa, lighting a stick of incense. "Her name is out here for anyone who notices, and her urn is on our living room shrine with us."

"Convenient for you and her," answered Konata. She noticed the flowers. "Violets and lilacs. Just like her…and you."

"Thanks," answered Tsukasa, smiling. "They were my idea. Did Onee-chan ever tell you violets were our favorite flower?" She then knelt down, closed her eyes, and said a prayer for her twin.

"No, I don't think she ever did…" began Konata. She then let out a gasp at the sight of her newfound girlfriend. Tsukasa didn't look physically different, but…perhaps it was something in her posture, or tone of voice, but she now seemed less like an 11-year-old in a 17-year-old's body. In terms of poise and ability in dealing with the world, she now seemed much more mature than she had been about two weeks ago. Almost as mature in Kagami in some ways.

But was that entirely a good thing? Had Tsukasa's maturity required Kagami's death? Could the advancement of one person only come through the…removal of another who was dearest to that person, like how Kagura had to kill her adopted sister Yomi in _Ga-Rei Zero_ in order to advance as an exorcist? Not necessarily; but for a youngest sister who had shared her entire life with a more self-confident twin and had come to rely on her as a guide, aide, and confidante… Matsuri Hiiragi had been right; it just wasn't right. Or at least not fair. Not one bit.

And it was at that point, pondering this and watching Tsukasa lovingly tend her sister's memorial stone like a true shrine priestess, that Konata fully realized that Kagami was gone. It hadn't entirely sunken in until now. "Tsuka-chan…" she sniffed as Tsukasa finished up. "Tsuka-chan!"

Tsukasa held Konata tightly to her as she sobbed into her chest, running her hands through Konata's long cobalt hair. It wasn't long before she started crying herself.

When their tears abated, the two sat there silently, watching the tendrils of incense curling up toward the heavens.

Konata's irrepressible smile returned. "Welp, the train and the movie aren't gonna wait for us, you know."

"Okay!" answered Tsukasa, taking Konata's hand as they left. A small bird soon landed next to the stone and said, "Poo-tee-weet?"

"…_the Diet is expected to vote on this today. In other news, Bin Ohyama, CEO of OBinCo Fuel Refineries, was found guilty by a unanimous verdict this morning of embezzlement and insider trading after a five-month trial. Strangely, his financial misdeeds were revealed during an undercover investigation on extremely faulty management procedures. The investigation was launched following a string of fatal accidents involving company trucks and an explosion at a refinery in Yokohama which killed five workers. Allegations of financial dealings between Ohyama and convicted American lobbyist Jack Abramoff remain uncon…"_

In the back of the Hiiragi family's car, on the way to Tsukasa's graduation ceremony, Tsukasa and her sisters cheered the news they had awaited for over a year. Tadao and Miki smiled and looked at each other, but kept their stoic composure. Someone had gone to prison for his misdeeds, but it wouldn't reverse all that had happened. As Tsukasa had told them, fun was fun and done was done.

"The system works," Tadao said. "Thank the gods."

"And now, will the members of Nanako Kuroi-sensei's homeroom class please step forward," announced the principal of Ryooh High School to the families and students gathered in the auditorium.

Tsukasa still couldn't entirely believe it. Not just the fact that she had passed all her classes with flying colors, but that high school was over, and adulthood just around the corner. The perils and the possibilities of college and careers looked like a stormy ocean now, but she had already weathered a rather fierce emotional storm the previous year.

And at least she had someone to share the journey with.

As Tsukasa and her classmates walked down the aisle, she noticed the voices of her family calling out to her from the seats. She smiled and turned toward them to wave back.

Her eyes popped when she noticed, at the end of the aisle, Kagami standing there, smiling and waving in her old school uniform. Next to her was a small, blue-haired woman who could have been Konata's twin sister, flashing a peace sign.

"K-Kona-chan!" gasped Tsukasa, tugging at Konata's robe. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" asked Konata, looking in the direction of Tsukasa's finger. Of course the two figures were gone.

"I'll tell you later," answered Tsukasa. She couldn't say "nothing", of course, because she hadn't only seen nothing.

"Dammit!" groaned Matsuri afterwards, looking at the picture on her cellphone. "I tried to take a picture of you coming down the aisle, but there's this brown blur off to the side! Must've gotten a fingerprint on the lens or something."

"I'd still like a copy, if you don't mind," replied Tsukasa.

_And that's it. A bit dark for Lucky Star, but dark is usually my thing. Like I said, I wrote this partially under the influence of _Pet Sematary_, and also of an excellent Azumanga story called "Control", which is in my favorites if anyone's interested. Yes, I highly recommend it. Warning: it's long, and pretty graphic (lots of sex and drugs, but not really and rock and roll), but taut, meticulous, and witty. I'm big on writing style and one thing I can say is the style of that story is something I usually try to aim for (I don't think I quite make it). Anyway, I thank you for reading and hope to see you again sometime in the future, whether in reviews of your stories, PM's to those of you who really impressed me and whom I'd just like to communicate with, and perhaps future stories. I may even put out some independent creations on Fictionpress. Ciao for now!_


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